Darksiders PC Review (2/13/2011)

Darksiders is a third person mythological action/adventure game that plays like Zelda and from what I have been told God Of War. You play as war, one of the four horseman of the apocalypse described in the bible, who has been framed for breaking the seven seal treaty between heaven and hell and starting a war prematurely, and throughout the game War must find out who started the apocalypse early and clear his name.

Darksiders is a fun, action packed adventure game with combat mechanics resembling that of God Of War and adventuring like that of Legend Of Zelda. Which to me is a very good thing since both games are very successful. I will not say this is a copycat game since all games are either inspired by another game or an event in real life.

(Some Zelda like moments)

As stated before, the game revolves around "War" one of the 4 horseman of the apocalypse, and his search for those who broke the peace treaty between heaven and hell, resulting in a premature war between the two kingdoms, and who framed him for it. The story begins with a cutscene of all hell breaking loose (literally) as angels and demons come crashing down to earth in a big hellfire of death and destruction. Both waging a war on the surface of earth, with the humans getting caught in the crossfire, and this is where you begin.

You are thrown headfirst into combat and "war" (get it?) right from the beginning as you are surrounded by demons and angels who both want to kill you, but lucky for you, you have a gigantic sword and a thirst for blood as you slaughter all those who lay in your wake. After the path of destruction you leave against humans, demons, and angels you finally come across a boss fight and in the midst find out the law has been broken and a war has been unleashed prematurely.

Upon being defeated you awake to find yourself infront of the Council Of Elders, who uphold the law in the universe, and accusing you of being a traitor and starting the war early, they sentence you to death. War pleads his case to them and asks for a chance to find those guilty of starting the war and framing him for it, the council agrees to his plight as they strip him of his powers and send him back while keeping a close eye on him. Seeing it as a win/win situation: if war fails, then the death sentence is carried out, if he finds those responsible then they are punished instead and war goes free. Upon returning to earth he finds out it has been 100 years in the mortal world since he was gone, which gave just enough time for the last of the human race to be whiped out, and the demons to rule the world.

The combat system and gameplay in Darksiders is much like that of Devil may cry, and God of War. Strings of combos thrown together for an epic big finisher that is sure to get the blood fountain spraying, to add to your combo arsenal, you also get 3 bars that increase over time called Rage, and with it you can perform deadly/powerful attacks, or use buffs that wear out as the bar runs dry. Mixed with some open world adventuring, you got yourself a good formula for a successful game. One complaint I have is some of the control placements felt a bit odd to me in the beginning and I still haven't grown 100% used to it. Mostly it is the control combination of pressing down the caps lock key and selecting one of the 1-4 keys to unleash one of War's deadly attacks that require Rage. If I am doing attack combinations and have to pause for a second to press the combination of keys, it kind of ruins the smooth transition of comboing I had going in my opinion.

(Wasn't kidding about that fountain of blood!)

Some of the problems I have with Darksiders is the puzzles they give you, they are either too hard and take forever to get it right, or you are stuck and don't know what the hell you're supposed to do. I suppose that's because I rarely play these types of games and it's probably easy and logical to most gamers of this genre, moving on.

Another problem I have is Boss fights, they aren't really that hard to do since you can just power up into your chaos form most of the time and mop the floor with their blood (literally!) in just a few seconds. An example, being the boss fight before you get your horse back. I kept dying in that fight over and over again, but after my chaos meter recharged I transformed and literally killed him in about 5 seconds flat.

There are also a few environmental glitches, where you float in mid air, but that is a very rare occurence and I discovered it accidentally when I was confused on a puzzle and was just hopping/wandering around randomly all over the place. I also detest the amount of backtracking that is required throughout some of these maps, as it can get very boring, especially if you have no enemies to fight along the way to keep yourself busy. I was in a map once backtracking (and getting lost) without seeing, or fighting a single monster for what felt like 5-10 minutes!

One more issue I have to address is some of the death animations, either the developers ran out of money or they slacked off. In some of the gorey death scenes you will come across, some of them seem unfinished. For instance I stick my sword into a demons skull then do a front flip tearing it out the front of it's face, which would cause it to split in half. But instead I just got a blood splatter and the monster died (it's head still in tact). Other than that I don't see too many problems with Darksiders.

The graphics for Darksiders is absolutely beautiful and intense, capturing the feelings of the atmosphere of each environment perfectly to what would be expected after an apocalypse. Barren wastelands, destroyed cities, echoing sewers, and more is all included in this jam packed action/adventure game.

(Ruin and War kicking butt and taking names.)

Graphics: 10/10 Very beautiful and a nice change from some of the other games.

Story: 7/10 It's an ok story, a bit cliche but not done for awhile. The protagonist is framed and goes on a hunt to clear his name.

Gameplay: 7/10 Combat is smooth and exciting, as you deal death to all those around you, and although some of the control placements on the keyboard are a bit uncomfortable you can always adjust to it.The constant backtracking throughout some maps can get annoying and confusing at times, and can cause you frustration and grief in the process. The puzzles are sometimes a pain in the ass to do, and sometimes easy to figure out. (This score is still pending, I am conflicted between 7 and an 8.)

Overall I find Darksiders to be a satisfying game with some very great features, and although the story is a bit unsatisfying, and a bit predictable in some places, the gameplay makes up for it. NightmareStudioz gives Darksiders an 8 out of 10, recommended.

This review has been brought to you by Cody Sparks Owner of NightmareStudioz.